This book attempts to provide a comprehensive study of the whole society of this newly important nation. Although fairly recent English language studies of the country exist, most of them are specialized political, economic or sociological reports or sweeping and undetailed descriptions. The Bolivian Handbook is not intended to supplant either of these types, but rather to provide a unified and fairly complete source of information within a single volume. Interpretations and judgments are presented, but they are offered tentatively, as befits research done from a distance on a nation in so great a state of flux.